String's The Thing, Man

Sailing your 914 all by yourself - on a bright summer day - with a cool breeze blowing - is heaven. Boom rings will likely never be noticed. But lock yourself in close competition, on a cold blustery day, and the lowly boom rings will definitely bring you to your knees!

The "boom ring" I speak of is the black plastic boom ring which is part of the kit.

The Problem with plastic boom rings has been growing as the class promotes, and attracts, more serious competition. There are two major problems. One, the boom ring is often stressed upon initial installation, and, even if not, is subject to cracking. Cracking means it slips. And by Murphy's law, boom rings never crack unless you are challenging for the lead.

The other problem is much more dramatic. The boom ring has just enough bulk that it seems to reach out and grab passing boats. When this happens, it brings out the worst in both skippers, as their two boats spiral out of control downwind.

Quietly, several skippers around the country have been working on solutions to this problem. One of them is me. I kept my mouth shut until I had competed the toughest of competition. Now, I can confidently say, I have never had a slip, and never "grabbed" another boat. Here is my suggestion.

A Solution - The first part of the solution is not difficult - throw away all your boom rings, all of them, jib and main! In place of each, take your handy dandy, government issue ball of rigging string (from the kit) and make yourself some Rocky Mountain "string rings."

Kinds of boom rings.

#1 Turning Ring - This is a boom ring that allows some other line to pass through it - usually changing the direction of the line passing through. You will find these rings where the main and jib sheet come up from the deck and meet the boom.

This ring is made by taking a 10" piece of string and tying a loop into the middle of the string. The loop should be very small - 1/4" across at the most. I usually half the string, and overhand tie the loop end. Now, you have a loop with two equal ends of string. Take one end only and tie a clove hitch on the boom. Then take the other loose end and tie another clove hitch in the opposite direction on the boom. The two tails should end up on the loop side of the boom. When the knot is looking good, tie the two ends in a tight square knot right at the loop. Put a drop of glue on the square knot and trim off the ends. Make sure that the ring does not get glued to the boom by moving it right after you apply the CA to the knot.
Do not glue the ring to the boom until later.

#2 Outhauls - this is the same as string ring #1 above, except that you tie the loop through the clew of the sail. I usually tie that with a square knot making sure not to crush the clew of the sail, but have the knot snug on the clue. CA this knot. Then go ahead and do the clove hitch on the boom with each free end of the line, and finish off with a tight square knot.

Note - It is very important to have the clew as close to the boom as possible - any gap will make it hard to trim it the sail properly. #3 Dead-end Sliders - the perfect example of this is the down haul on the mainsail. This knot is used at the dead end of a line that adjusts something. Take the end of the string and tie a clove hitch plus two more half hitches, one on each side of the original clove hitch and tie off the end around the long end of the string. Put a drop of glue on this last knot to keep it from untying and make sure to move the ring immediately to prevent it from attaching to the spar.

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Boom Vang - I recommend only a two part boom vang - why? Because this string is so strong and stretches so little, that more parts just makes it harder to adjust. So, cut a piece of string about 15" long. At the required location on the boom (see instructions), tie one end of the string around the boom using a series of half hitches. You should end up with a clove hitch and at least one more half hitch. Take the short end of the string and put at least one hitch on the long end to finish the knot. Now CA glue in place - that means glue it to the boom.

The string will now run down to the fitting (reinforced with a string loop) at the bottom of your mast and return to another string ring (#1 type) that is placed 1/2-3/4" forward of the dead end you tied on the boom in the first step. Before passing the boom vang string through this string ring, put on a bowsie. Then through the loop and back to end at the bowsie.

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OK - go forth and multiply. Good sailing to all of you and may you never get hung up on another boat again.

This article was written by Steve Lang at the Model Sailing Center. Your comments, corrections, and additions are always welcome. Please email Steve at Steve@RCLaser.com 4/15/01

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